1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an information recording/reproducing apparatus having a facility to compress data recorded on an information recording/reproducing medium such as an MD (Mini Disc) and record the resultant on the original information recording/reproducing medium.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Application No. 2001-164910, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the progression of data compression recording technologies, it has become possible to record data such as music on an information recording/reproducing medium such as an MD in higher densities and larger amounts.
Under circumstances where various data compression recording technologies are being developed, however, users have suffered inconvenience. For example, if users having an MD or the like which contains data of an earlier data compression scheme wish to convert the data to a recent data compression scheme and record it on an MD or the like again, it has been necessary to prepare both an information reproducing apparatus such as an MD player which uses the earlier data compression scheme and an information recording apparatus such as an MD recorder which uses the recent data compression scheme.
More specifically, it has been required to take steps such that the MD player or the like using the earlier data compression scheme and the MD recorder or the like using the recent data compression scheme are connected to each other, and the MD player or the like reproduces the data of the earlier data compression scheme recorded on the MD or the like while the MD recorder or the like compresses the reproduced data under the recent compression scheme and dubs the resultant on another MD or the like.
That is, aside from such problems as the necessity for the MD player, MD recorder, etc., there has been a need for so-called dubbing. This need for dubbing has prevented the data converted to the recent data compression scheme from being re-recorded on the original MD or the like. Consequently, there have been restraints on flexibility such as difficulties in data editing and MD management, with the result of inconvenience.
Moreover, the dubbing onto another MD or the like has been necessary not only for situations where data recorded under earlier data compression schemes is converted and recorded under recent data compression schemes, but also for situations where data recorded under recent data compression schemes is converted and recorded under earlier data compression schemes. This has also caused the restrictions on flexibility, with the result of inconvenience.